Florida's defense is a top-10 unit, minus the takeaways

Gators defense hasn't forced turnovers, but is statistically sound

Florida's Jonathan Bostic celebrates after making a tackle against Alabama-Birmingham at Florida Field on Sept. 10.

Lost in the disappointment of Florida’s 6-6 season is a sparkling stat.

The Gators field a top-10 defense in the country.

Under first-year coach Will Muschamp, UF is ninth in the nation in total defense, allowing an average of 299.5 yards a game.

The stat isn’t too surprising considering that in eight seasons as a defensive coordinator, Muschamp guided a top-10 defense six times.

However, that stat has not translated into an acceptable amount of victories this season for Muschamp and his players.

“Stats say a lot, but we’re still 6-6,” said UF redshirt sophomore linebacker Jelani Jenkins, the team’s third-leading tackler with 71. “At the end of the day, our defense could’ve done a lot better job of finishing those games and keeping us from losing six of those games.”

The problem is total defense only tells one side of the story. The Gators have struggled mightily in generating big plays. UF has forced 12 turnovers all season. Only three schools out of 120 in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision have forced fewer.

Florida’s defense will have one last opportunity to become a ball-hawking unit when it faces Ohio State (6-6) in the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl on Monday at EverBank Field.

“For us, getting the football and takeaways was such a huge emphasis,” UF defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “When we didn’t meet that standard, that’s something that we know goes along with winning football. We’ve got to a better job at that.”

Florida also wasn’t able to generate a consistent pass rush, as illustrated by the team’s sack total, which tied for 68th in the country.

While Muschamp and his staff can teach the players sound football, they can’t teach them experience. That’s something UF has been in short supply of all season and might be one reason UF has been unable to force miscues. Only one of Florida’s top 18 tacklers is a senior (defensive tackle Jaye Howard). Howard is also the lone senior starter. Only two other seniors, defensive end William Green and cornerback Moses Jenkins, crack the two-deep on the defensive depth chart.

“I’m very excited about the future, because 75 percent of our roster are freshmen and sophomores,” Muschamp said. “Many of those guys have been our playmakers this season and those guys are all back, so that’s exciting.”

UF could field one of the top defenses in the Southeastern Conference next season returning 19 key contributors from this season’s corps. More important, the returning players will have a much firmer understanding of Muschamp’s defensive concepts.

“Me and Jelani talk about it all the time,” said UF junior linebacker Jonathan Bostic, who leads the Gators with 86 tackles. “This is our first year in the defense. We thought we did pretty well. Going into next year we should be even better. A lot of guys are coming back on the defensive side of the ball, so we’re excited.

“That’s our goal. We want to be the best run defense, best pass defense, the best in every category, but we’ve got to put in the work to do it.”

The Gator Bowl gives Florida’s defense the chance to finish the season with its best effort, giving it considerable momentum heading into the offseason.

“This is definitely a big game for us because we’ve got to make a statement,” said UF sophomore defensive end Ronald Powell, who leads UF with five sacks.

“It’s definitely going to lead on to next season. [They want to prove] we can play with anybody. We’re going to be a national championship team one day.”